Best Part of the Day
by The Girl Who Flys
Summary: Seeing Anna was always the best part of Kristoff's day. Seeing Kristoff was the best part of Anna's. Frozen, slight AU.
1. Chapter 1

Having Princess Anna come down to the stables had always been one of the best parts of Kristoff's day. Of course he would never admit that to anyone…except for Sven…and only when he had double checked to make sure _nobody _was around. She was always all smiles and laughs. And no matter what, Kristoff made sure that her horse was ready whenever she skipped into the stables.

"Now how am I supposed to know how to put on the saddle if you keep doing it for me?" Anna laughed. She fed a few sugar cubes to the horse and Kristoff shrugged.

"I'm just trying to be helpful," Kristoff said, shrugging.

"Well I'm getting out of practice," Anna told him. "How about tomorrow you leave everything off and then you can tell me if I'm doing anything wrong? Oh! I almost forgot!" Anna gave the reins to Kristoff and skipped over to the stall that Sven stayed in. The reindeer nuzzled Anna affectionately and her music-like laughter rang out through the stables.

"Yeah, you know what I got for you already, don't you?" Anna asked, patting Sven's nose. Out of her bag she pulled out a carrot and fed it to the reindeer. The whole thing was devoured in a second. "He's such a big sweetheart," Anna complimented. She looked over at Kristoff, grinning. "Guess he must have learned that from you."

Kristoff tried to act nonchalant. "Pfft! Me? A-no, that's ridiculous. What, you think I'm some big dopey softie?"

"For your sake, I'm not going to answer that," Anna said with a mischievous smile. Kristoff was just a little distracted by the fact that Anna was rather close to him again looking rather expectant. He panicked internally, not knowing what to say or do. Anna finally cleared her throat and reminded him quietly "It's time for my ride now."

Kristoff nearly slapped himself on the forehead. "Oh, yeah, right. Let's-uh, let's get you out there." He led the horse out of the stables with Anna by his side. The future queen herself, Elsa, was already mounted on to her horse with another one of the stable hands helping her adjust things.

"Slow as always, I see," Elsa said to Anna. Anna stuck her tongue out at Elsa.

"You know I can't _not _give Sven his carrot!" she reminded her.

"Your horse might get jealous over the attention to the reindeer," Elsa warned but she was smiling at her sister.

Anna patted the nose of her horse. "This guy prefers sugar cubes anyway." She turned to Kristoff. "Help me up?" Kristoff did as he was asked.

"Have luck!" He wished to Anna. "I-I meant-I tried to say have fun and good luck at the same time," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Thanks," Anna said, smiling. Kristoff watched them go, his gaze too focused on Anna to notice the looks he got from the Queen.

Of course, there were times that he was reminded that she was a princess and certain things were expected of her. And those things did _not _include some guy who worked in a stable whose only friend was a reindeer. No sooner had they returned then did one of the servants come out of the castle, several letters in hand.

"These arrived for you today, Princess Anna," the servant said. Kristoff helped Anna down from her horse, trying to ignore the way her hands felt on his shoulders or his hands felt around her waist. She smiled at him before pulling away and taking up the letters.

"Oh, look," she said, waving the letters at Elsa. "A letter from Lord Eskil, Prince Lars, and from the looks of it one _very _long letter from Prince Hans of the Southern Isles." She grinned mischievously at Elsa. "How much do you want to bet that one of these is another marriage proposal?"

"Anna, you have turned down several marriage proposals since you were sixteen," Elsa reminded her. Well, that was news to Kristoff.

...he wasn't eavesdropping or anything. He just hadn't taken Anna's horse back into the stables yet. He would in a minute.

"Out of curiosity, why haven't you accepted any of them?" Elsa continued.

"Well the first one happened less than a year after…you know…" Elsa nodded somberly. She understood what Anna was referring to: the death of their parents. "As for these three, Lord Eskil is so _boring! _He's never done anything fun and his only 'fun' hobby is cartography. Prince Lars' proposal went, and I quote 'Anna of Arrendale, we shall marry and you can finally stop acting childish and give me the fifteen children I've always wanted.' In fact, I may just burn his letter. And Hans…" Anna paused. "Well technically he hasn't proposed yet but…I don't know. Something seems off about him. He claimed he loved me after only knowing me for a day and I like him just fine, but I don't think I _love _him."

Elsa smiled and hooked her arm around Anna's. "Well, maybe if you're lucky, you'll find someone you love." Kristoff may have been reading too much into it, but he thought Elsa turned and looked straight at him "And someone who loves and cares for you just as much," she added. She nodded at him before turning back to her sister.

Yeah, definitely imagining things.

* * *

Seeing Kristoff at the stables was one of the best parts of Anna's day. She lived for those few minutes she was able to see him and talk with him. She had never told anyone that the sight of him made a thousand little butterflies beat their wings against her stomach or that the thought of him made her grin like an idiot.

So when princes or lords who just so _happened _to be so single came to Arrendale to "pay a friendly visit" and they attempted to command Anna's attention from dawn to dusk, she got a little annoyed. Especially when a certain Lord Pontus ("More like Lord _Pompous,_" Anna had complained to her sister) showed up ten days early to Anna's birthday ball and kept hounding her to go out on a ride with him.

Especially when Elsa did things like agree to these outings on her behalf.

"Why would you do that?" Anna said, flopping dramatically onto Elsa's perfectly made bed. "What about sisterhood? What did I ever do to you?"

"Your shoes better not be on my bed," Elsa warned without looking up from her papers. Anna immediately kicked off her shoes onto the floor before Elsa could freeze her feet into ice blocks...again. "He's attempting to court you and you've apparently made it very difficult for him."

"Why doesn't he just propose to _you?_" Anna complained. Elsa gave an amused laugh.

"He did on his last visit here and I politely declined."

Elsa had never mentioned that before. It made Anna feel a little better before the words really sank in. Lord Pontus had proposed to her older, more powerful, and more beautiful older sister and when he couldn't have _her, _decided he would settle for Anna instead.

"So I'm just the spare?" Anna asked sadly. Elsa looked up at her sister, concern washing over her features.

"Anna of course not," she soothed. She sat down next to her sister on the bed and patted her head soothingly. "You are a wonderful, beautiful, brave, and adventurous woman and like I said before: you're going to find someone you love and that someone will love and care for you just as much in return."

"But that person isn't Lord _Pompous,_" Anna said determinedly.

Elsa sighed. "No, definitely not. And I already know that if he comes to me to ask permission for your hand, I will decline." Anna smiled, happy to know her sister was on her side. Except for when she agreed on her behalf that she would go out and ride horses with him.

"I asked Kristoff to be your chaperone tomorrow," Elsa said. Anna sat up in alarm. Kristoff? Her _chaperone? _While she was being courted by a man she didn't even like?

"Kristoff? Why _him?!_" Anna demanded shrilly. Elsa looked confused.

"I thought you liked Kristoff."

Anna nodded. "I do. I do. I do like Kristoff. I _really_ like Kristoff. B-but not like _that_. I like him in the 'he's-pretty-nice-and-funny-and-helpful-and-it's-fun-to-talk-to-him' way. Not in the 'his-smile-makes-me-melt-into-a-puddle-of-mush-and-I-have-fantasies-about-our-wedding-day-and-what-our-children-will-look-like' kind of way. No, not all. Th-that'd be," Anna laughed nervously. "Silly. That'd be…really silly."

Elsa looked convinced. At least, Anna hoped that was what that look meant. "It's just…the chaperones are usually old people that I don't really know that well. I've known Kristoff since I was thirteen so it'll just be…kind of…weird…"

Elsa smiled reassuringly. "Well I promise my intention was not for you to feel weird. My thinking was more along the lines of Lord Pompous-oh, now you've got me saying it!" Anna laughed. "Lord _Pontus,_" Elsa corrected, "is a very small, very scared little man and Kristoff can look rather intimidating when he needs to."

Anna kept this in mind as Lord Pontus droned on and on as they walked to the stables the next day. Elsa had been right about Lord Pontus' size. He was barely a head taller than her and thin as a rail. She very nearly giggled aloud. How had she not noticed the lack of height? Oh, right, maybe because he was so full of himself and bragging about how _wonderful _he was and how _lucky _she was to be in his presence.

"…and the present I got for your birthday, Princess Anna," Lord Pontus was saying. Honestly, how many times did she have to say it was _just _Anna? Addressing her by her title all the time was just too much. "The present I got for you is spectacular. It is just what you've always wanted and dreamed of."

Anna smiled kindly as they entered the stables. "Oh, so you got me a bouquet of flowers?"

Lord Pontus looked confused and slightly offended. "I-_what?_ No, of course not! Why would I get you flowers? You don't want those!"

"Of course I do. There are some beautiful wildflowers that grow nearby-"

Lord Pontus laughed. "A princess not only wanting flowers, but flowers that are not even _roses_...that is very amusing, your highness. What is _not _amusing is what is taking this servant so long with the horses."

Of course, Kristoff chose that moment to emerge with all the equipment in his arms. "Just finishing getting the equipment ready," he grumbled. Anna was relieved to finally have him around and smiled gratefully. Kristoff, however, didn't look twice at her and scowled as he started preparing her horse.

"Here, let me help," Anna offered. Kristoff shook his head.

"I got it."

Anna's mood, which had been improved by Kristoff's presence, deflated again and she couldn't help but make a small little noise of disappointment.

Lord Pontus laughed again. "You think you know how to properly saddle a horse, your highness?" he asked condescendingly.

"I'll have you know that I could do this blindfolded if I really wanted," Anna said through her teeth. "And considering that I am so graciously lending you one of our horses, I would keep in mind that I can retract my offer easily."

Maybe she imagined it, but she thought she saw Kristoff smirk and nod approvingly. But she blinked and he was scowling again.

"Stable boy," Lord Pontus said in a commanding voice.

"It's _Kristoff,_" Anna corrected. She was ignored.

"I am sure you have received your orders in advance, but I want to remind you that I require a calm horse with a mellow attitude. Is that clear?"

"Don't worry, your lordship," Kristoff drawled, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "I have _just _the horse for you."

Anna just about giggled with glee when she saw that the horse Kristoff had picked out was a very particular horse that was normally calm except for its one _peculiar _quirk. Whenever Sven-and only Sven-made a particularly loud noise, the horse would spook and run off.

Which is why Anna wasn't particularly surprised when Lord Pompous was left face first in a big puddle of mud while his borrowed horse ran away.

"Don't worry," Anna said, trying not to laugh, "Andren will run straight back for the castle."

"Well what am I supposed to do?!" Lord Pontus demanded. "We're miles away from the castle and I am without transport!"

"The walk isn't _that, _bad," Anna said, shrugging. "I've done it before. We better get back so you can change." Lord Pontus scowled as he walked behind them, complaining the whole time about the state of his clothes under his breath. Several times on their way back, Kristoff caught Anna's eye and grinned at her which made Anna grin back and her heart start pounding against her chest.

Elsa asked later that night why Lord Pontus had come back to the castle covered in mud and ranting about defective horses but Anna just shrugged.

"Guess he's just not as great of a rider as he thinks he is," Anna said nonchalantly. "By the way, remind me to give Sven extra carrots." Elsa just rolled her eyes.

The day of Anna's birthday was a busy one, but she was determined to get a ride in, regardless. When she walked into the stables, Kristoff was just dismounting from Sven. Evidently he had just gotten back from somewhere. Anna happily skipped over to him.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully. For some reason, this made Kristoff jump about a foot in the air and he looked completely startled by the sight of her.

"H-hey, Anna! Hi! You're here early today." Why did Kristoff seem nervous?

"Well, maybe a little bit. I just wanted to make sure I could get a ride in before the party tonight. Are those flowers?" Anna had only just noticed the bunch of flowers clutched in Kristoff's hand. He looked down at them, looking almost surprised to find them there. They were wildflowers.

"Oh, yeah. Those," Kristoff said. "Yeah, you see…_Sven _here saw them when we were out on a ride and he thought that you might like them for your birthday. He was being pretty stubborn about it and-hey!" Sven had nudged Kristoff with one of his antlers in annoyance. Kristoff cleared his throat and rubbed the back of his head. "Anyway, here." He held out the flowers to Anna and she took them and gazed down at the petals almost in reverence.

"I guess Sven must have overheard when I said the other day that flowers were what I wanted for my birthday," Anna said knowingly. Kristoff was staring at some spot on the ceiling while a blush colored his cheeks.

"Yeah. I'll get on to him for his eavesdropping." Kristoff sidestepped to avoid Sven's antlers again.

"Well, I think I can forgive him for it because I really love these," Anna allowed. "I'll be back for my ride in just a few minutes. I just want to go put these in a vase. But while I'm gone, you think you could give something to Sven for me?" And before she could lose her courage, Anna stood up on her toes and gave Kristoff a kiss on the cheek.


	2. Chapter 2

Kristoff had always treated the former king and queen with the utmost respect. They had, after all, given him the job and they were the rulers of the land. They were both extraordinarily kind individuals and they seemed to like him just fine as well whenever they interacted with him. Elsa was treated with a similar kind of attitude. She was, after all, the heir to the throne. But the two of them were only slightly casual with each other since they were the same age and they somewhat shared a bond over that. Anna, however, had always treated him like a friend and he did the same with her.

Which is why Kristoff felt so comfortable yelling at her like he was right now.

"'I just want to go on a ride, Kristoff! I just want to get out and enjoy the fresh air before the snow gets too heavy! I swear I'm not going to try and do the same thing I saw those traveling acrobats do in the market the other day!'" Kristoff shook his head angrily. "You should've known better! _I _should have known better!"

He could practically hear Anna roll her eyes. "Well excuse me for trying to have a little bit of fun!"

"Nearly getting yourself killed by trying to do a handstand on the back of a horse is not _fun,_" Kristoff snapped. He barely noticed that Anna had gone from having her arms wrapped around his waist to leaning as far back as she could from him and just barely hanging on to his sash. They were both riding back to the castle on Sven since her horse had run off to who knows where. Any other time, he might have been ecstatic at her touch and lamented how little she was touching him now. But he was too mad to care right now (maybe he cared just a little).

"I was _not_ trying to do a handstand," Anna insisted. "I was trying to get something from a tree so I stood on my horse's saddle to get it and after that was when I noticed the buckle on my shoe was loose, and then I kind of flipped a little bit, then my skirt got in the way and I fell and scratched my arm up against the tree (thanks for asking how my arm's doing, by the way) and that's when you saw my horse spook and run away."

"No, that's when I saw your head nearly get squashed by your horses' hooves!" Kristoff said hotly. The castle stables were finally in sight and Kristoff breathed a little sigh of relief. "The whole point of having someone with you when you go out on a ride is to make sure that you come back alive and in one piece and I can't do that if you pull stupid stunts like you did today!" He jumped off of Sven and grudgingly helped Anna down. She pushed herself away from his grip almost the second her toes touched the ground.

"And here I thought I was spending time with the guy I li-I _thought _was supposed to be my friend!" Anna crossed her arms stubbornly.

"Anna," Kristoff sighed. "I'm always your friend. I just have a low tolerance for people doing _stupid _things."

"Well, fine! I guess you don't get to find out what I got from the tree today!"

"Fine!"

_"Fine!"_

It wasn't until Anna had stalked off back into the castle that Kristoff buried his face in hands with an almighty groan.

_"Kristoff, you were too harsh with her," _he said for Sven.

"She could have _died_ today! I wasn't being too harsh!" Kristoff started to lead Sven back to his stall.

_"You're only mad because you were so scared and you were only scared because you love her."_

Kristoff stopped in his tracks. "Whoa, back up, buddy. I don't love her. I can't. She's a princess. I'm pretty sure there are _laws _against that."

_"No, there isn't. You've checked."_

"I think you should stop talking now."

Sven snorted and rolled his eyes before settling down in the hay. Kristoff kept pacing angrily for a few minutes before all that had happened had finally settled in. He _had _been scared when he had seen Anna underneath her horse and the hooves rearing up. She had rolled out of the way barely a few seconds before the hooves came crashing down right where she had been. And all he had been able to do was freeze up in fear and make some odd strangle noise. The horse had run off and he had run over to Anna to help her up and had barely glanced over her (and now that he thought about it, the sleeve of her dress had looked torn) and made sure she was okay before he got mad.

"I'm an idiot, Sven," Kristoff said, pulling down his hat over his eyes. Yes, Anna was his friend and she had scared him half to death, but you didn't go _yelling _at your friends when they were probably shaken up by the whole thing, too. Especially when that friend was a princess and her sister was going to be Queen that summer.

Kristoff and Sven looked around when they heard the sound of a throat clearing. He vaguely recognized the man standing there as one of the butlers.

"Her royal majesty, future Queen of Arendelle, the Lady Elsa requests your presence," the butler announced.

Kristoff groaned. "I'm fired, aren't I?"

The butler's expression gave away nothing. "If you would follow me, please?"

Kristoff twisted his hat anxiously in his hands as he followed the butler. He had _never _been alone with Elsa. He had only ever interacted with her when her parents or her sister and a good number of the staff were around. The fact that she had asked for him specifically so soon after he had an almighty temper tantrum towards Anna spoke volumes.

The butler knocked three times on the door of Elsa's office. "Enter," she said from within. The butler swung open the door, took a few steps inside and bowed deeply. "Kristoff, your majesty," the butler announced. Elsa only glanced at him from over the top of her book, before she resumed her reading.

"Thank you. You can leave us now." The doors swung shut with an ominous thud and Kristoff gulped.

Yeah. Definitely fired.

Neither of them said anything for a few minutes. The only sounds in the room were the crackling of the fire and Elsa turning a page in her book. Finally Kristoff cleared his throat.

"Y-you, um…you wanted to see me, your majesty?" He asked tentatively. Elsa finally looked up at him. She smiled and gave a short little laugh.

"Interesting," she said, turning to another page. Kristoff waited for her to say more but when she didn't after a few moments, he prodded her some more.

"What's interesting, your majesty?" he asked. "Something in your book?"

"Hm? Oh, no. That wasn't what I was talking about." Elsa lowered the book on to her lap. "You addressed me as your majesty and yet I don't think I've heard you call my sister by anything other than Anna. Why is that, I wonder?"

Kristoff blinked once. Twice. He wrung his hat in his hands some more. "She-she's…" Kristoff struggled to find the right word. "Different." Elsa raised an eyebrow and nodded at him to continue. "W-well she's not as big on the whole, you know, formal title thing and um, well, you-you're going to be the Queen soon so calling you by your name didn't s-seem appropriate."

"Well, you still called me your majesty when my parents were alive," Elsa reminded him. "And Anna _is _now my heiress apparent, just like I used to be. If I were to die tomorrow, Anna would inevitably become Queen. Would you start calling her your majesty then?"

"No," Kristoff said immediately. "I-I mean, I _would_ if she asked me to-"

"Why wouldn't you?" Elsa interrupted.

Kristoff swallowed and looked around the room. He wondered briefly if it would look to desperate if he were to jump out the window right about now.

Yes. Yes it would.

Elsa would probably freeze him before he got the chance to break through the glass, anyway.

"Because she's…Anna," Kristoff said lamely. "I know it's not the _best _reasoning but she's always been Anna. To me, anyway."

Elsa smiled gently at him. "Well if she can be Anna, then I can be Elsa. So except on the rarest of occasions, that's what I insist you call me from now on. Understood?"

Kristoff nodded. "Yes, your ma-_Elsa,_" he hastily corrected.

Elsa nodded approvingly. "Good. Now that that's settled, why don't you take a seat? I want to hear your side of what exactly happened today." Elsa gestured to the seat across from hers.

Kristoff nodded nervously and hastily went to sit down in the seat, tripping over his own feet in the process. Elsa hid a giggle behind her hand.

"Seems you've picked up some of my sister's clumsiness," Elsa remarked. Kristoff could feel his face turn a brilliant shade of red. "Go on. Anna's already filled me in on her side of the story. You're not in trouble," she assured him when a worried look clouded his features. Kristoff let out a deep breath and relaxed enough to tell Elsa the whole story from beginning to end.

"…and I feel bad about getting mad at Anna, I really do but I just got-"

"Scared?" Elsa guessed. "My sister always looks before she leaps. I've snapped at her a time or two and we've always forgiven each other. I'm sure the two of you will make up soon. After all, Anna would only lash back as strongly as she did if the person who was angry with her was someone she really cared about." Kristoff twiddled his thumbs awkwardly and his leg bounced up and down. He might be slightly less nervous than he was when he first walked in here, but that didn't mean he felt completely at ease, either. Not like he did with Anna.

"Well, I think that's all I needed to know. I'm sure you have plenty of duties to attend to." Kristoff nodded and stood up. Elsa stood up, too, and followed him to the door. "It was nice speaking to you, Kristoff. I've learned a lot from our conversation."

"It was nice speaking to you, too, your majesty," Kristoff said.

Elsa narrowed her eyes at him. "What did you call me?"

Kristoff gulped. "E-Elsa. I meant Elsa. Old habits, you know?" He laughed nervously. Elsa gave him a reassuring smile.

"We'll work on that," she promised.

* * *

Kristoff was perhaps one of the most _frustrating men _that Anna had ever met. Her birthday had been in September. _September_. It was very nearly Christmas and she _still _hadn't gotten that man to kiss her.

She had kissed _him_. On the cheek, but it still counted! And she really did have to go and put the flowers in a vase so she had rushed off (but she had seen his flushed cheeks and the big goofy grin on his face which had to have meant _something_) and she had thought that would have been enough to start…_something. _But they were at a stalemate. Kristoff was just more awkward than anything around her now and almost seemed to avoid her whenever she came to the stables. Finally, Anna had convinced him to go on a ride with her and _that _was when she spotted a few sprigs of mistletoe. She balanced herself on her horses' saddle when Kristoff hadn't been looking and plucked some and stowed it away carefully in her dress pockets.

All she had to figure out from there was a perfect time and place to get him underneath a bit of that mistletoe.

And yes, she had lied to Kristoff. She actually _had _noticed that she was in a perfect position to try that handstand. That was when her skirt very nearly flipped over her head and she lost her balance.

At least when Kristoff turned at her startled scream, her skirts had been in a more respectable place.

Well, she hoped they were.

Then Kristoff had to go and yell at her. She didn't care when Elsa explained to her that he had just done it because she scared him and she certainly didn't care that Kristoff himself had come knocking on her bedroom door one day (even if it had been really hard to resist opening that door).

Nope. Not one bit.

"I don't care at all," Anna told herself out loud.

_But Kristoff does, _she imagined Kristoff saying in Sven's "reindeer voice."

Anna had come to realize this rather slowly over the days she had ignored him and finally decided that she should make it up to him. It was nearly Christmas after all. She put her best knitting and sewing skills to work over the next few days until she was satisfied with the finished product. Grinning happily, Anna bundled up in her warmest clothes and ran down to the stables, her project wrapped up in a little box with a red bow on top.

_Please let him like it,_ Anna thought to herself. _Or at least…not hate it._

He wasn't immediately within sight when she got into the stables, but Anna knew where he probably was. She skipped down to Sven's stall and cracked the door open, peeking through it. Sure enough, Kristoff and Sven were settled into the hay, the former leaned up against the latter, absentmindedly plucking at the strings of his lute.

"Hey," Anna said softly. Kristoff sat up in alarm before relaxing against Sven again.

"H-hey," he replied. "Haven't seen you around in a while."

Anna cringed. "I know. I'm sorry. I was busy with a little…project."

"A project?" Kristoff echoed. His lips were twitching at the corners, threatening to smile.

"Well, you _could _call it that," Anna allowed. "Or you could call it a present." She brought out the box from behind her back and stepped forward, holding it out to him.

"Merry early Christmas," Anna said, grinning. Kristoff went slackjawed and didn't move to take the present from her. Anna's smile faulted. Oh, God. What was wrong with it?

"You got me a present?" Kristoff finally said.

"Of course I did!" Anna sat herself down in the hay right next to Kristoff. She dropped the box in his lap. "Open it!" she squealed. "Open it! Open it! Open it!"

"Alright, feisty pants! I'm opening it!" Kristoff laughed as he pulled the bow and lifted up the lid of the box. Slowly and gingerly, he pulled out the hat she had made special for him.

"I just thought, you know, I've only ever seen you with the one and I thought 'what if he loses that one?' and that'd be terrible because then you couldn't keep your head warm and I know it's not nearly as nice as the hat you have now-"

"Anna!" Kristoff interrupted, putting a hand over her mouth. "I love it. Thank you." He put the new hat on his head to try it out. "Wow, it fits!"

"It does? Good!" Anna said with a sigh of relief. "I wanted it to be a surprise so I had to use a bust to try and size it right."

"Well you did a great job." Kristoff's face fell. "I feel bad, though. I didn't get you anything."

_"I know what you can get Anna for Christmas!" _Anna said in her own impression of Kristoff's reindeer voice. She looked over at Sven. "You do? Well how do you know what I want for Christmas?"

_"Because, Anna, I know everything."_

"That's your Sven voice?" Kristoff deadpanned.

"Shush!" Anna admonished him. "Sven's trying to talk. Go ahead, Sven."

_"Anna would really like it if you would take her out on a sleigh ride. She'll pack plenty of snacks and carrots to bring along and you'll have so much fun."_

Anna gasped. "Why, Sven, you really _do _know everything!"

"Don't go giving him a big head," Kristoff warned, but he was smiling.

"So, what do you think?" Anna asked excitedly. "Sleigh ride? You, me, and Sven? Please?"

She had barely begun to pout before Kristoff nodded. "Alright. We can go on a sleigh ride whenever you want."

Anna squealed excitedly and hugged Kristoff. God, he was warm. And he was pretty comfortable, too. She could lay next to him and just fall asleep if she really wanted.

Anna blushed at her own thoughts and reluctantly let go of Kristoff so she could stand up. "We can go this Saturday? Maybe?" Anna asked, brushing the hay off of her skirts.

Kristoff's cheeks were tinged with more pink than they normally were. Anna hoped that didn't mean he was coming down with something. That'd put a damper on their sleigh ride.

Kristoff nodded. "Saturday sounds great," he agreed.

"Great!" Anna bounced excitedly out of the stables, calling "See you later!" over her shoulder and missing the goofy smile that was plastered on Kristoff's face.

* * *

_A/N: Loving the response I've gotten so far from this story. It was highly unexpected. Thank you! All of you!_

_So since I didn't explain before, here's how the AU works: Elsa learned to control her powers and she and Anna remained friends, Kristoff works in the stables, and this takes place several months before the movie so Anna has actually met people and has had attempted suitors. But since she hasn't grown up completely lonely and inexperienced with people, she doesn't get engaged to people who woo her on the day she meets them._


	3. Chapter 3

"Come in!" Anna's cheery voice called from the other side of her bedroom door. Elsa turned the handle and stepped into the room she and Anna used to share as kids. If it hadn't been for the inevitable teenage years and the arguments that came with them, they might still be sharing a room to this day.

Anna was turning this way and that in front of the mirror, occasionally smoothing down her skirts with slightly shaking hands. Elsa could tell that Anna had taken a lot of time with her appearance today. Not a strand of hair was out of place and not one wrinkle was in her dress. Even her boots looked like they had been polished and shined until your reflection could be seen in them.

"Elsa!" Anna squeaked when she caught sight of her sister in the mirror. She whirled around to face her sister. "Does this dress look alright?" she asked, turning again.

"It looks wonderful, Anna," Elsa said, smiling. "You look beautiful."

Anna smiled gratefully. "Thank you!"

"So…" Elsa began. "Off on a sleigh ride? With Kristoff?" Her younger sister's cheeks flushed a very bright pink, her smile grew wider, and her eyes absolutely sparkled with anticipation.

"Well, I've been wanting to go on a sleigh ride for a while," Anna replied, trying to act nonchalant about the whole thing. "And Kristoff knows the woods and the mountains better than the back of his own hand. Of course, his hands are going to be covered with mittens tonight so maybe that doesn't make a lot of sense and my hands are going to be covered, too and-"

"Anna!" Elsa cut her off. "I get what you're trying to say…I hope you have fun tonight."

"Me, too," Anna sighed wistfully with a dreamy smile on her face.

"You and Kristoff sure seem to…get along quite nicely."

"Yeah…" Anna's response sounded more like a question. The smile on her face wavered ever so slightly as she was unsure where this conversation was going.

A knock on the door interrupted the sisters before they could say anything else. "Princess Anna? Mr. Bjorgman is here to see you," called Kai.

A noise that was somewhere between a squeak and a wheeze escaped from Anna's mouth at this announcement (was that noise even possible for a human to make? Maybe she should make an appointment with the palace physician on her sister's behalf.)

Anna stumbled hurriedly this way and that, picking up one of her winter cloaks and a basket from the foot of her bed. She took a deep breath, let it out slowly and nodded to herself.

"Send him in," Anna finally said. The door swung open and they watched-Anna anxiously and Elsa curiously-Kristoff walk into the room. He looked like a bundle of nerves and kept raising his hands up like he was going to twist his hat around in his hands, but he hadn't had that nervous habit in a while. Not since Anna had made him a new hat, at least.

"Hey!" he said cheerfully and his shoulders lost some of the tension in them and both of their expressions softened and they both just looked beyond happy to see each other.

Kristoff noticed Elsa standing there and jumped a little. "Oh, um, h-hi yo-Elsa," he said. "Sorry. I didn't know you two were talking. I can wait outside by the sleigh."

"That's quite alright, Kristoff. I was only checking up on Anna before you two went out tonight. I was just saying to her how lovely she looks this evening. Wouldn't you agree?" She looked at Kristoff pointedly and his whole face flushed red.

"Uh-uh-I-um-I-I-I-y-yeah. That dress looks really…nice…"

Anna's face fell ever so slightly. "Just nice?" Anna asked, sounding a little disappointed.

Kristoff began to look a little panicked. "W-well, what do I look like an expert in dresses? I'm not the one who goes around wearing them-"

Both sisters had to cover their mouths from the giggling at the rather amusing mental image and Kristoff, if possible, flushed an even more brilliant shade of red than before.

"You know, I think I'll take the compliment," Anna decided. "Ready to go?"

Kristoff nodded and gulped as Anna skipped over to him. "Here, let me help you with that," he offered. He took the basket of food from her so she was free to secure her cloak. Anna boldly hooked her arm around Kristoff's and led him away from her bedroom. "Don't wait up!" she called back to Elsa.

Elsa let out a long sigh, a few snowflakes scattered about the room. Her eyes slid shut as she rubbed at her temples.

"Ma'am?" Kai asked cautiously.

Elsa's eyes snapped open. "They still haven't kissed."

* * *

Kristoff was pretty certain that the night could have gone a lot better than it had so far. He had had it all planned out in his head. They'd head up into the mountains with only the light from the single lantern at the front of the sleigh to guide their way. After a while he'd slow Sven down so they were going at a slow and gentle pace.

Then they'd get to this little clearing that overlooked Arendelle and stop to admire the view and dig into the food and wine that Anna had packed. She'd say she was a little cold and Kristoff would get out the blanket. But wasn't that a shame, he'd only packed just the one.

But Anna in all her selflessness and cheerfulness wouldn't mind that at all and would insist that the two of them share the blanket. And that would mean that the two of them would have to be a lot closer together than they already were on the small seat. But Anna would still be cold so she'd scoot even closer to him and snuggle into his side and he'd put an arm around her and make some excuse about her shivering too much so he had no choice but to put his arm around her so that she didn't freeze to death.

She'd roll her eyes and claim it wasn't _her _fault that he wasn't giving off enough body heat. Then he'd look down at her smile and say something really cheesy, like promising to give off as much body heat as she needed to stay warm whenever she needed him to. And then she'd smile and start leaning toward each other, eyes slipping shut, and their lips would meet. He'd pull her closer and deepen the kiss, wrapping his other arm around her waist and her arms would come up and drape across his shoulders.

Sven had been getting on to him for not kissing Anna ever since she had kissed him on the cheek on her birthday.

"It was just a friendly kiss, buddy," Kristoff reasoned with Sven late one night.

"_You two want to be a lot more than friendly with each other."_

Kristoff rolled his eyes. "You are reading way too much into this."

"_She kissed you and you didn't reciprocate and it's making her sad. She gave you permission."_

"No, she didn't. She's never said the words 'Kristoff, you are allowed to kiss me.'"

"_It's implied."_

"No, buddy. Far from it."

But the sleigh ride was the perfect opportunity to finally kiss her. Their first kiss.

Her first kiss.

His first kiss…

"Oh, God, I don't know the first thing about kissing," Kristoff realized the day before the scheduled ride. He'd never kissed a girl before. None of them had caught his eye before Anna so he had never had any learning experience.

"_Neither has Anna."_

"But she'll still have expectations, Sven. All girls do. At least I'm pretty sure they do…"

"_You've seen people kiss. You've heard people talk about kissing. You read one of Anna's favorite romance no-"_

"We promised to never speak of that again, Sven!" Kristoff sighed and leaned back against his reindeer friend. "Okay, so from the vague pieces of information that we have about kissing I know that your lips are supposed to be together, there may be some difficulty breathing, I'm supposed to use my tongue at some point…for some reason…I'll skip the tongue thing for a while. My hands are supposed to go…somewhere. I think only the head-or was it the neck?-, shoulders, and waist are appropriate. Anywhere else I have to get the okay from her…does that sound right?"

"_I'm a reindeer. What makes you think I've kissed anyone?"_

"Sometimes you're of absolutely no help to me," Kristoff deadpanned.

But with some limited knowledge of kissing and even less help from Sven, Kristoff knew that this would be the night he would finally kiss Anna if everything would just go according to plan.

Of course, things decidedly did _not _go to plan. They had put plenty of distance between them and the castle and had very nearly gotten to the clearing when there was a loud _crack! Thump!_ And the sleigh lurched to one side, hurtling Anna into him.

"What was that?" Anna asked. Kristoff hopped out of the sleigh, grabbing the lantern and leaning down to expect the damage.

"Oh, great," he groaned. "How does that even happen?"

"What happened?" Anna peeked over the edge in curiosity.

"One of the runners came off!"

"What?" Anna climbed down from the sleigh to join Kristoff. "I thought these things were indestructible."

"Not entirely." His plans for that evening were, disappointingly, pushed to the back of his mind. Now he and Anna were stranded, miles from the castle with a broken sled.

"Can you fix it?" Anna asked, her voice sounding very small and Kristoff wished he could tell her he could.

"You see all that wood that's splintered off with it?" He pointed and Anna nodded. "If it wasn't for that, then yes, I could. But it looks like we're gonna have to start riding back."

Kristoff went to work. He handed Anna the lantern to hold before unhitching Sven. Then he gathered as many supplies as he could into his rucksack.

"Okay, bud," Kristoff said, preparing to swing up a leg over Sven. The reindeer however, had different ideas. With an angry snort, Sven moved away from Kristoff, sending the hulking blond face first into the snow.

Anna giggled uncontrollably as Kristoff sputtered and brushed off the snow. "Sven!" he said indignantly. "What the hell's gotten into you?" He stood up and tried taking another step toward Sven, but the reindeer pranced away from him again.

"I don't think he's in the mood to have someone riding on his back right now."

"Well, yeah, I figured _that _much out!"

"It's not _my _fault that Sven's having mood swings," Anna huffed. "Maybe he's still sore about his antlers being gone for the winter. He does look pretty naked without them."

Sven made an indignant snort and sat back on his haunches and awkwardly crossing his front hooves in front of his chest, looking extremely offended.

Anna picked up the basket of food and shrugged. "Looks like we're walking."

The sled broke, Sven was being a drama queen, and now they had to walk all the way back to the castle. Definitely not how he planned on having the evening go: a romantic sleigh ride complete with a broken sleigh and a moody reindeer. This is what he got for finally falling for someone.

Kristoff took the lantern from Anna and began to lead the way. If they had to walk all the way back, there was no time to waste.

"What about the sleigh?" Anna asked. She stumbled a little in the thick snow and grabbed on to Kristoff's arm for support. Despite the cold, Kristoff suddenly felt very warm.

"When we get back, I'll tell some other guys what happened and we'll come up here later and repair it and bring it back down."

"I thought you said it couldn't be fixed?"

"Not with the tools I have."

Anna sighed, disappointed and Kristoff couldn't help but feel guilty. "I-I'm sorry, Anna. Guess this is a pretty bad Christmas present, right?"

"No!" Anna said hurriedly. "No, it's not. I still get to spend time with you. Sure, we're miles away from the castle in the middle of the woods and it'll take us ages to walk back, but at least I don't have to walk back alone. And neither do you. Nobody likes being alone. Except maybe hermits. But I think they're still secretly lonely. So…"

"So…" Kristoff said. The awkward silence hung in the air between them as they trudged through the deep snow. Yeah. Definitely not how he imagined this evening going.

"What're you gonna do on Christmas?" Anna finally asked. The holiday itself was only a week away.

"Sven and I are going to go see my friends," Kristoff answered, gesturing off toward another mountain.

"Am I ever going to meet these friends of yours?" Anna inquires. He'd mentioned his family a few times to Anna and she always seemed curious to meet them. However he didn't quite know how to explain that they were all a bunch of trolls without sounding completely insane. And there was no telling how they would react if he brought a _girl _to meet them.

"They could come to stay at the castle," Anna offered with a sweet smile. That was Anna. Always thinking of others and doing it with a smile.

Kristoff laughed at the thought of his family at the castle. It'd be complete chaos. "Trust me, they're…mountain people. They blend in better up here. I'll take you to meet them one day."

They paused for a moment so Kristoff could help her over a log. "Promise?" she said.

He thinks of how she'll react to meeting his family and how they might react to meeting her. It seems like a great idea and a terrible idea all at once. But he finds himself saying "Promise."

They stopped shortly after that so they could eat their dinner. It wasn't exactly the setting that Kristoff had had in mind but Anna still sat rather close, her side pressed up against his to try and keep warm. But he didn't put his arm around her with the excuse of her shivering too much and there were no sweet words or looking deep into each other's eyes before finally sharing that first kiss.

The first kiss failed to happen and it made Kristoff feel like a failure.

They kept on walking through the dark for a while after that, talking back and forth and trying to keep the mood light. Their conversation slowly tapered off and Kristoff did not notice for a while that Anna was slowly beginning to fall more and more behind.

Suddenly, Sven nudged him roughly. Kristoff turned around to say something, but stopped when he saw Anna sitting down on a log, eyes heavy and shoulders drooping. Sven sniffed at her worriedly and Anna half-heartedly rubbed his nose.

"You okay?" Kristoff asked.

"I just need to rest for a few minutes," Anna said through a rather large yawn. "Then we can start heading back again. How much further do we have to go?"

"About an hour," Kristoff guessed. Anna groaned and the thought made him tired, too. Sven kneeled down some and nudged Anna. "Oh, _now _you want to help us out?"

_"I don't know what you're talking about,"_ Sven seems to say. Rolling his eyes, Kristoff trudges back through the snow to them and picks up Anna since she looks too tired to try and sit upright on Sven on her own. He climbs onto Sven's back and uses one hand for the reins while the other tucks Anna close to him. She grasps tiredly to his shirt when Sven stands upright again and they rock slightly.

She doesn't let go.

Sven is content to just walk which Kristoff doesn't mind at all because Anna needs her sleep and it's an excuse to be close to her and he missed out on that with the broken sleigh.

"Hey, look there," Anna says tiredly. Her eyes are barely open as she nods up at the branches of a tree they're passing. "There's some mistletoe up there," she yawns. Closing her eyes again, her head rests more comfortably on Kristoff's chest. "I got some of that the other day," she mumbles.

"Really?" Kristoff says, stifling a yawn himself.

"Mm-hmm. Was gonna ge' you t' kiss me."

Kristoff has never been more awake.

"Wait, what?" He speaks a little louder than he meant to. He clamps his mouth shut and bites his lip. Did he really just hear Anna say-?

"Kissed you on m'birthday," she mumbles. "Thought you'd 've kissed me back by now."

Kristoff is too stunned to say anything else and he can practically feel the waves of smugness radiating off of Sven. Anna wanted-wanted _him _to-wait, seriously?

"You-you actually _want _me to kiss you? Like, I'm allowed to? I have permission?" Wow, that sounded lame coming out of his mouth.

"Mm-hmm. Permission granted."

Again, Kristoff is stunned and doesn't say anything for several long minutes. When he does open his mouth to say something he hears gentle snores and he looks down to see Anna fast asleep. Sven shakes his head and Kristoff knows he's saying _"You blew it, buddy."_

"Yeah," Kristoff sighs, his breath coming out in a misty cloud. "I know."

* * *

_A/N- It took a while longer to get this chapter written. I had to rewrite entire sections, delete other things, plus I had a paper to write for a final. I may not update again for a while due to the holidays, but I do plan to have a oneshot up before then. Thanks for reading._


	4. Chapter 4

Anna had not been sure if her confession to Kristoff had been real or something she had dreamed up. She was pretty tired that night so it was entirely possible that she dreamed it. But it was also entirely possible that she had _thought _she'd been asleep. She wasn't sure. At least, she wasn't sure until a few days later when she was building a snowman with Elsa in the courtyard.

"Hello, Kristoff!" Elsa called. Anna looked up, startled. Kristoff was across the courtyard from them. It was the first time Anna had seen him since…that night. She quickly ducked down to gather up more snow. "Well he's certainly in a hurry," she heard Elsa comment. Anna dared to glance up and saw Kristoff walking quickly away.

"Well he's a busy man," Anna shrugged. But on the inside she was a bundle of nerves and embarrassment. She had said it. She _had _said it. Oh, God, she _said it. _She told Kristoff that she wanted him to-why had she done that? Why had she, in her barely conscious state, decided to go and do that? Well on the bright side, her secret was out, but on the not so bright side…

Kristoff practically running away from her in the courtyard seemed to speak volumes. Either her confession had scared him and she'd have to work hard to get them back to where they were or…or he didn't…didn't _want _to kiss her.

This thought was enough for Anna to avoid Kristoff. She threw herself into helping with the decorations and wrapping her Christmas presents for Elsa. It'd be a quiet Christmas this year, just the two of them and some of the palace staff. They were expecting a visit from a distant cousin of theirs after the New Year. Anna hadn't seen the woman in a few years, but there was always something about her that grated against her nerves.

And she did manage to avoid Kristoff for a while. But the universe, only two days after Christmas, had other plans for her.

It was all Elsa's fault really. She always knew the best books to give Anna and she had really picked out a good one this year. Anna was already over one hundred and fifty pages into it and she still wasn't halfway done. The book was so good, in fact, that Anna had hardly put it down…not even when she should…like when she came to a flight of stairs for example.

Of course, she was so absorbed in the book she had forgotten that the stairs were even there in the first place, but Elsa had given her the book, so it was really all her fault.

With a gasp and shriek, Anna stumbled down a flight of stairs, finally dropping her book. She tried to right herself on the way down but all this did was make her land with one of her ankles bent at an odd angle.

That was when she heard the snap.

For what seemed like an eternity, Anna sat there with wide eyes, breathing heavily and biting down on her lip. Slowly the pain started to creep up on her but she refused to scream. And she refused to look. Oh, God. She didn't want to look.

Three maids came rushing up the stairs to her aid. "Princess Anna! What's wrong?"

"We heard a scream and a great noise!"

"Are you hurt?"

"Why aren't you saying anything, m'lady?"

They were all hovered around her and Anna couldn't stand it anymore. She _had _to look. She slowly inched up her skirt little by little and a single tear escaped down her cheek. The toe of her shoe came into view, then the rest of the shoe, and then she saw it. Her ankle looking completely swollen and purple and bending in a way she _knew _it was not supposed to.

Anna clenched her mouth shut more tears escaped. Still too shocked to scream, a noise akin to a whistling teapot started emitting from her. This turned out to be a mistake because it sent the maids into a complete meltdown unlike any Arendelle had ever seen before.

The first maid fainted dead away. The second collapsed on the stairs and began hyperventilating. The third ran away, flapping her arms wildly and screeching prayers. Anna finally allowed herself to cry and sob in a completely undignified and unladylike and unprincesslike way but she didn't care. She didn't care one damn bit. Her ankle HURT and the only people who had come to her aid so far had been useless.

"…a? Anna?!" Anna vaguely registered that was Elsa speaking and she cried even louder than she had been before. She uncovered her face to see Elsa practically flying down the stairs with the hysterical praying maid in her wake and a few more, thankfully much calmer looking maids.

"You can go," Elsa said to the praying maid firmly. She looked more than happy to be away from that scene. Elsa gave a few more hushed orders to the other maids before she even reached the bottom of the stairs. The first maid attended the maid who had fainted. The second went to the hyperventilating maid and started hauling her forcefully up the stairs and away from the scene. The last two remaining maids ran right past her to who knows where.

"Hey! It'll be okay, I promise!" Elsa tried to soothe Anna. She knelt down by her sister and smoothed her hair down frantically. "You've broken a bone or two before."

"I f-forgot how much i-it hurts!" Anna wailed.

"And you'll forget about this, too," Elsa promised.

"I doubt it!"

Despite everything, Elsa smiled and held Anna close to her, promising her everything would be better soon and it wouldn't be too much longer and too just hold on for another minute.

"Anna?!" Anna would recognize that voice anywhere and if she wasn't in so much pain her heart would skip a beat over how concerned he sounded for her.

"Up here, Kristoff! Hurry!" An edge had crept into Elsa's voice. Anna could hear pounding footsteps hurrying up the stairs toward her and she turned her head away from Elsa to see Kristoff taking the stairs two at a time, his eyebrows knitted together and looking just as concerned as he sounded. The maid that had been sent to go and get him struggled to keep up. Kristoff knelt down beside Anna and brushed back her hair from her face with a slightly shaking hand.

"What happened?" he demanded. He sounded scared, concerned, and angry all at once. Like he would hit someone if he found out that someone else had caused her this pain.

"She fell down the stairs I think," Elsa explained. "It's not the first time. I need your help getting her to her room. I've sent someone else to get the physician." Smart Elsa. There was probably no one as strong as Kristoff in the whole castle.

Nodding, he gingerly picked her up and cradled her against him. He winced as Anna let out another loud, choking sob when her ankle shifted. "I'msorrysorrysorrysorrysorrysorry," Kristoff said hurriedly, looking absolutely guilty for causing her more pain. Elsa led them back up the stairs, leaving a trail of ice that Kristoff had to avoid.

"W-wait!" Anna cried at the top of the stairs. She tried reaching out with one arm, but Kristoff was holding her so securely she could hardly move it. "My book!"

Wordlessly, Elsa bent down and picked it up. "Anna," she said heavily. "Please tell me you did not fall down the stairs because you were too busy reading this book."

"Can we talk about this later?!" Anna gasped between sobs. "I'm in pain, here!" Kristoff picked up the pace, being careful not to jostle Anna in anyway. The physician was already waiting for them in her bedroom. Kristoff gently set Anna down on the bed while Elsa closed the door behind her.

"Forgive me for this, but I'm going to have to cut the boot off," the physician said. Anna wasn't paying attention because Kristoff was sitting on the edge of the bed, facing her. He held one of her tiny hands in his and used the other to cup her face.

"Just look at me, okay?" Kristoff said. She was still sobbing but she nodded and kept looking into his eyes. "You're gonna be just fine. I promise." He rested his forehead against hers. "Want me to tell you a story? I'll tell you a story. So years ago when I first got Sven he had this bad habit of licking things. Sure, it's one thing to lick someone's face or hand, but he went and licked a pole-got stuck to that-he licked a block of ice-he got stuck to that-and then we were passing by a frozen pond and he somehow got onto the middle of _that _because apparently that was the best place for him to stick his tongue-"

Anna laughed through a sob and gave Kristoff a watery smile. "Yeah, _that _was fun trying to get him unstuck from all those things, but I think with the pond he's finally learned his lesson. Or at least I _thought _he did, but he licked a spare horseshoe the other day. At least he was still able to move with that one and it was easier to come off then all the others."

Kristoff smiled at her and used his thumb to gently brushed away her tears. "Are-are they done yet?" Anna asked in a shaky voice.

"Very nearly," the physician said. "I just have to set the bone. You're luck it was a clean break."

Anna growled and sobbed again. "You're lucky I don't cleanly break your-"

"Anna!" Elsa admonished. "Please forgive my sister. She's in pain."

"I can forgive her. Young man, if you could just hold her down for this part?" Anna reached her arms up and around Kristoff's shoulders as best as she could. He slid one arm around her shoulders and another around her waist. His head dropped down to the crook of her neck and his weight settled over her.

"Just hold onto me, okay?" Kristoff whispered into her ear. "It'll be over soon." The physician counted to three and pain shot through her ankle again. Anna's hands fisted into Kristoff's tunic and she bit down on some extra fabric at his shoulder, screaming into it. He just held on to her tighter and didn't let go until her foot and ankle had been braced and put in a cast and the physician excused himself to find her something for the pain.

"Anna, are you okay?" Elsa asked worriedly. Kristoff stood up so that Elsa could take his place on the bed.

"Still hurts," Anna answered, voice dry from all the crying she had been doing. And she wanted Kristoff hugging her again.

"I know, I know," Elsa said sympathetically. She procured a handkerchief and gingerly started wiping at Anna's face. "The physician will be back soon and the pain will be gone. It'll probably put you to sleep, too."

Anna frowned. "But I was just getting to the best part of the book!"

Elsa closed her eyes and took a deep breath like she always did when she felt a headache coming on. "Okay, new rule in the castle: you are not allowed to be reading unless you are sitting down in a chair or laying in your bed. And you'll be doing a lot of the latter until you're healed."

"I second that," Kristoff chimed in. The physician entered the room again and Anna had to drink something that tasted absolutely foul. But her eyelids grew heavy and she was vaguely aware of Elsa and Kristoff speaking in hushed tones at the foot of her bed before she succumbed to sleep.

A knock on her door rouses her from her sleep but she doesn't open her eyes. She listens as someone near her bed shifts and then there are footsteps and then the sound of her door opening.

"Right this way," she hears Elsa whisper. There's some more movement in the room and the smell of piping hot food reaches Anna's nose. More movement and her doors shut again. "How has she been doing?" Elsa whispers again.

"Great," a voice whispers back and Anna is elated to know that Kristoff is still here. And he apparently stayed with her while she was asleep, too. "Whatever the physician gave her worked out great. It knocked her out cold. She didn't even snore."

"I do _not _snore!" Anna grumbles.

There's the clacking of heels and the weight shifts on her bed. "You awake?" Elsa asks, putting a hand to her forehead. "How do you feel?"

"Like I fell down some stairs," Anna deadpans. She pauses. "And I'm hungry." Elsa laughs and helps her sit up so that she can put the tray of food down in front of her, then gets her own tray and settles down next to her on the bed.

It isn't until Anna's eaten nearly half of her dinner and the fog in her brain has cleared up that she remembers about Kristoff being in the room. She looks around and sees him sitting in a chair by the fire. His own share of food was on a little table in front of him and in his free hand he was holding…

"Is that _my _book?" Anna asked, leaning forward to peer around Elsa.

Kristoff shushes her. "I'm just getting to the best part."

Elsa shushes her before she can say anything else and tells her to finish her dinner. When the pain starts creeping up in her ankle again she has to take the medicine again and it tasted just as foul as last time but Kristoff squeezes her hand and smiles at her before she slips into unconsciousness again and that makes it all just a little better.

* * *

The next few days are ones of grogginess and half-remembered things. Elsa sleeps beside her for that first night and she eats all her meals with her. She remembers maids helping her carefully out of her dress and into her nightgown. There's always someone different in the room every time she wakes up. Mostly it's Elsa, sometimes it's a maid, but the best times are when it's Kristoff.

Anna yawns and stretches and sits up tiredly in bed. Has she really been on bed rest for five full days now? It feels like it's been an eternity.

"Nice hair," she hears Kristoff comment. He's sitting by the fire, smirking over the top of her book at her. Anna's hands fly up to feel the rat's nest her hair has become and she groans.

"It's horrible!" she groans.

"Nah," Kristoff shrugs. He's walked over to her dresser and picked up her hairbrush. "It's kind of endearing." He hands the brush to her and Anna resists the urge to stick out her tongue.

"You're only saying that to be nice." Anna starts working out all the tangles and attempting to smooth it down.

"How're you feeling?" Kristoff asks.

"I'm going crazy! I want to get out of this room. Heck, I just want to get out of this bed."

Kristoff shakes his head. "Trust me. You're probably better off in this room. That cousin of yours arrived early. Yesterday morning, in fact."

"_Distant _cousin," Anna corrects. "You've met her?"

"We all drew straws on who got to sit with you first today just to get away from her."

"Oh, I see. So you aren't doing this out of the goodness of your heart. You're doing it to get away from my cousin," Anna teases. She finally works out the last tangle in her hair and runs her fingers through it to make sure.

"Distant cousin," Kristoff reminds her. "And no. It gives me a chance to make sure you're okay." He sits down at the very foot of the bed. "Sven misses you," Kristoff says heavily, his eyes full of meaning.

"Another perfectly good reason for me to get out of this room," Anna says. "I miss Sven, too."

Kristoff smiles softly at her and reaches forward to take her hand in his. "Well the physician thinks you're making a great recovery so maybe you'll get a free pass to leave this room tomorrow. Which is a good thing, because-"

The doors to Anna's room burst open and Kristoff drops her hand and springs to his feet in an instant. Elsa hurriedly shuts the door behind her with a bang. "You rigged those straws and I _know _it," Elsa accuses, pointing a finger at Kristoff. This is the first time that Anna is actually scared Elsa might freeze someone.

"Elsa?" Anna asks cautiously. "What's wrong?"

"What's wrong?" Elsa echoes, sounding shrill. "What's wrong? What's wrong is that our distant cousin (and I want the genealogists to double check if we _are _related) the Lady Jeneve has given so many backhanded compliments about me, the castle, the kingdom, the staff, the way the curtains fall in the east drawing room, I'm getting ready to scream!" Ice starts creeping up the walls.

"…Elsa?" Anna says slowly.

"They want to have lunch tomorrow and you are _not _staying in here. You are _not _leaving me alone with her again."

"I want to get out of this room, Elsa. Really badly. But I can't even walk to my wardrobe without people supporting me. What makes you think I can go to the dining room which is _downstairs-_"

"Kristoff will carry you down the stairs and to the dining room," Elsa decided.

"Haven't I gotten _enough _insults from that woman?" Kristoff complained. Elsa turned her icy glare on him.

"You will do this for your _future queen_ and more importantly you will do it for Anna," she ordered.

Kristoff gulped and didn't dare try and argue.

* * *

_A/N: I got some inspiration so this chapter is coming out a lot earlier than expected. Don't hold your breath for the next one because I'm definitely not getting that one out until after the holidays (and I mean it this time). Technically this chapter is just PART ONE and the next chapter is PART TWO so I'm leaving everyone with a cliffhanger. Thanks for reading._


	5. Chapter 5

_You guys are impatient, but I love you. I wanted to get this chapter out three days ago, but it got...carried away from me. Seriously, this chapter is a MONSTER. I'm actually splitting it into two parts and the second part will be published tomorrow. And I have news about another fic in development, more information after the chapter. Enjoy._

* * *

It takes a team of maids to help Anna get all cleaned up and dressed properly the next day. Elsa comes and eats breakfast with her in her room and reminds her that if she dares even _thinks _of abandoning her at lunch, she'll freeze her to the roof of the castle. Despite the threats, Anna is enjoying the breakfast in bed with Elsa. It reminds her of when they were little girls and they'd sneak snacks into their room in the middle of the night to have their own private picnic.

"Why can't you be all queenly and diplomatic and tell her she needs to get her butt back to her own place?" Anna asks.

"You don't think I haven't tried that? I can't count the number of times I've said to Lady Jeneve how much she must miss her home. And do you know what she said to me?" Elsa demanded.

"No."

"Do you?"

"I really don't so why don't you just tell-"

"She said 'Of course I miss my home. This castle is so…_humble _when you compare it to my estate. But we must make the best of our situations. By the way, have you found someone to cure that peculiar…_tick_ of yours? You keep making it snow in my tea.' Then she went and made two of the maids cry."

"Well, I guess diplomacy won't work with her," Anna mused. "You're going to be Queen in a few short months, though, so you can't be anything _but _diplomatic. _I _on the other hand-"

"Don't you dare!" Elsa warned, but she was laughing and nudged Anna playfully.

"I won't say anything _completely _horrible to her!" Anna promised. "I'm going to send her running back to her little estate in no time. And I think we should conveniently lose her invitation to the coronation."

As lunch time approaches, a few maids help support Anna on either side as she makes her way out of her room and down the hall toward the stairs. "I'll be walking again in no time," Anna promises as she limps. Kristoff spots her as he's coming up the stairs and he looks a little alarmed but mostly exasperated to see her and she knows it's because of the limping.

"What are you doing?" he deadpans.

"Coming to meet you," Anna replied simply. "So you don't have to walk as far." Kristoff picks Anna up easily and shoos away the maids.

"It's like you don't want your ankle to heal," he complains while his mouth twitches at the corners, desperately fighting back a smile.

"I'll have you know that this brace is completely sturdy and the physician says I am healing at a much quicker pace than expected." Anna was very proud of herself for that and knew that the quicker she healed, the quicker she could get back to sneaking down to the kitchens at night for snacks.

Kristoff looked amused and paused at one of the landings. "Oh?" he questions. "I guess that means I can put you down." And his grip began to loosen ever so slightly. Anna tightened her arm that was wrapped around his shoulders and gripped his shirt so tightly with her other hand, she knew she had wrinkled it.

"Ah-ah, n-no. That's okay. I think I'm fine with this whole being carried around deal." She pats his chest and nods. "Yep. Totally fine. Completely fine. Absolutely, definitely…um…"

"Fine?" Kristoff supplies. His cheeks are tinged with more pink than they usually are. Maybe he's realizing that they haven't been this close and _alone _since her half-conscious confession on That Night. Sure. There have been times since her injury that they've been alone, but Kristoff has remained distant. In the first few days when she pretty much did nothing but sleep, she'd be pleased to see him lounging in a chair next to her bed either reading a book, plucking almost silently at his lute, or nearly dozing off with his hand resting only a few inches away from hers. But as soon as someone else came in the room, he'd retreat to the fireplace. Anna had been so sure that while Kristoff may like her, he wasn't interested in kissing her.

But he had finally come and sat on her bed with her yesterday.

And he did seem to be holding her rather close.

And she could _swear _that he was looking at her lips an awful lot lately.

But that was crazy, because Kristoff didn't _want _to kiss her…right?

Anna bites down on her lip and nods. "Yep. Fine. Just fine," she squeaks. There is another long silence and Anna thinks she sees Kristoff looking at her lips again-

"Elsa threatened to freeze me to the roof if I don't make it to lunch today," Anna tells him hurriedly. This seems to snap Kristoff out of his reverie and he nods.

"Right. Lunch. With Elsa and your cousin." He shudders a little and starts walking with her again.

"Just walk in, put me down, and walk out," Anna tells him. "I'll deflect her as best as I can."

Kristoff snickers. "Sounds like a battle plan."

With Lady Jeneve, that statement is not far off.

Lunch is to be held in one of the parlors that Anna likes in particular for its rather beautiful view of the fjord. It's too bad that this particular favorite has to be soured by the presence of her distant cousin.

Despite years of not seeing her, the Lady Jeneve has not changed much at all in appearance. Her black hair is pulled back in a tight bun that makes Anna's head hurt just looking at it. The neck of her gown is so high it nearly goes up to her chin. She must be wearing her corset very tightly because her breaths look rather short and her waist looks unnaturally small. Anna herself never wears a corset unless she has to and even then, she never allows it to be laced up unnaturally tight. The sleeves of the gown go all the way down to Lady Jeneves wrists and the skirt of her dress pools around where her feet might be. She is of the kind that does not believe in exposing ankles or shoulders so her expression is sour as her eyes flick between Elsa's off-the-shoulder, slit to the knee ice gown and Anna unwittingly exposing her un-stocking-clad legs and bare feet as Kristoff carries her.

Above all, Lady Jeneve was always had her nose up in the air and looked down upon those of lower rank than her. It did not surprise Anna when Lady Jeneve eyed Kristoff up and down distastefully and she felt a surge of protectiveness come over her immediately.

"It amazes me how different things are in Arendelle, dear cousin Elsa," Lady Jeneve said. "We never let our stable boys wander into the palace."

"We don't like frostbitten stable boys in Arendelle," Anna replied shortly as Kristoff began to lower her into her chair. A few maids swept in to help prop her leg up.

"Anna needed help coming downstairs to see you," Elsa reminded their cousin calmly. "Kristoff is quite easily the strongest man I have in my employ and he is always happy to help us out."

"Maybe you wouldn't need him if Anna didn't eat so many sweets," Lady Jeneve suggested.

Kristoff's expression twisted into one of anger and he looked ready to say something to her cousin, which would have been a very bad idea. So Anna put on her best princess voice and said "Thank you for your assistance, Kristoff. I shall call for you when I need you again," she said as the maids draped a blanket over her bottom half. "And I'll be having dessert first today," she announced. Both the maids, Elsa, and Kristoff hid their smiles before Lady Jeneve noticed.

Anna wasn't sure she liked the way Lady Jeneve eyed Kristoff as he left the room. "So, Anna, still as clumsy as ever, I hear," Lady Jeneve remarked. She took a long sip of her tea. "Your older sister may have her faults but she has always been infinitely more graceful."

Elsa's lips pressed together in a thin line. One thing that always bothered the two of them to this day is when people began to compare the two sisters and judged them.

Anna was determined not to let their cousin get anywhere with her, though, no matter what came out of her mouth. So she shrugged and said "Yeah, sure, Elsa might be more graceful than me, but she can't wiggle her nose like a bunny like I can…_or _flare her nostrils." Anna demonstrated her ability to do both. Lady Jeneve frowned.

"Perhaps your parents should have spent more money on etiquette lessons," she remarked. "I hope that my lunch is prepared properly this time."

"Considering that you're having your own personal maid make your lunch, I'm sure it will be just fine," Elsa reminded her coolly. The atmosphere of the room was strained at best. Lady Jeneve became increasingly frustrated with Anna's comebacks (while Elsa became increasingly amused) and Anna was sure that she was on the brink of losing her temper and leaving back for her estate.

The food was brought in a few short minutes later. The staff of Arendelle castle looked more than relieved that they wouldn't personally be dealing with Lady Jeneve and smiled gratefully at Anna as they helped set up a lap tray for her. Her distant cousin's own personal maid, however, looked nervous and her eyes kept flicking over to Anna as she set down Lady Jeneve's plate and helped her with her napkin. The maid stood awkwardly by their cousin's side, wringing her hands and she kept looking at Anna expectantly and making her feel uncomfortable.

Lady Jeneve finally looked up at her maid and rolled her eyes. "Oh, just go ahead and ask her and stop your hovering!" she snapped.

"Right! Sorry, my lady!" The maid said, flinching and curtseying to the three women. "Princess? I was….well, I wanted to know…if it's not too much trouble-"

"Oh, for goodness sakes!" Lady Jeneve snapped. "Are you completely incapable of forming a coherent sentence?" The girl shrunk back at the insult. "What my maid Agnes is attempting to say is that she is quite taken with one of your staff members and would like some help from one of you to set up a little outing for them."

Anna smiled at Agnes, not being able to help thinking how cute this was. "Why haven't you asked him yourself?" she asked gently.

Agnes shook her head. "I'm much too shy, ma'am," she admitted.

"And it is _highly _inappropriate for a woman to throw herself at men like that," Lady Jeneve added hotly. "Even for a woman in Agnes' station."

"That, too," Agnes added.

She just looked so shy and she was blushing and it was just too adorable for words! Anna nearly squealed at how smitten she looked.

"Who is this mysterious man?" Elsa asked coyly.

Agnes went to answer, but Lady Jeneve beat her to the chase. "That smelly stable boy that was just in here, whatever his name was."

Anna nearly choked on her bite of cake. _Kristoff? _No! Agnes couldn't like him!

"Kristoff?" Elsa asked, sounding every bit of surprised as Anna felt.

"Well it's not as if I approve _entirely_ of her infatuation," Lady Jeneve said haughtily. "But then again, if the match goes well, _I _won't be the one marrying him-"

"Wait, what?" Anna interrupted. Elsa gave her a pointed look but Anna ignored it. "Why are you so sure that it's going to end up in _marriage? _They barely know each other!"

Lady Jeneve turned up her nose. "Your stable boy might not be a…_catch _but anyone in my employ is more than an ideal match for anyone and this young man would have to be blind to not be completely and utterly infatuated with her immediately. And since he has been spending so much time with _you, _cousin Anna, helping to take care of you after your clumsy accident, I thought it best to appeal to you to see if you could do without him for a couple of hours." Jeneve turned to Elsa. "He is not attached to anyone romantically, is he?" she asked.

Anna felt absolutely sick to her stomach. _She _was in love with Kristoff. Kristoff was hers and no one else's! Except that he wasn't. The only thing she knew for sure was that he was her friend and nothing else and she couldn't exactly stop him from going and falling in love with some other girl.

Anna felt Elsa's eyes on her while she stared down at her cake, pushing some of the crumbs around on the plate with her fork.

"Perhaps," Elsa began, sighing. "Perhaps I can arrange to have Kristoff run a few errands in town and Agnes can accompany him? I can set it up for some time tomorrow. Will that do Agnes?"

Agnes went to answer again before, once again, she was interrupted by Lady Jeneve. "That will work perfectly. Be so kind as to not dawdle on this and let me know what time Agnes should be ready for this outing by dinner tonight."

To Anna it felt like the rest of lunch went by in a haze. Elsa luckily took over the conversation, Anna only having to contribute every now and then. The fight had drained out of her despite her wanting Lady Jeneve gone more than ever now.

She was relieved at first to see Kristoff coming back into the room to carry her away, but when she glanced behind him and saw Agnes peeking into the room before scurrying away, Anna felt miserable again. Kristoff picking her up and holding her close made her feel a little better. But only a little.

"How'd it go?" Kristoff asked, chuckling. "Hey," he said when Anna didn't answer. "Are you okay?"

"Me?" Anna asked, feigning surprise and pointing to herself. "Of course! Of course I'm okay! I'm the _Queen _of okay! Well, I guess that'd actually be _Elsa _after her coronation this summer. I'm just the Princess of okay!" Anna laughed awkwardly before the laughter dissolved into a groan and she buried her face into Kristoff's chest. _God_, he was warm. And he was _not _smelly. He smelled like the wood of the stables and hay and he smelled like _Kristoff. _Anna loved that smell no matter what anybody said.

"Anna," Kristoff said, his voice sounding rather desperate and pleading. "Anna, seriously, what's wrong? You can tell me anything."

"I don't _want _to tell you," Anna groaned into his shirt. "I want to curl up in my bed and _die._"

"But you aren't going to tell me what's wrong?"

"Then I'd have to kill you, too."

Anna could practically _hear _Kristoff roll his eyes as he tugged on the door knob and her bedroom door swung open. Reluctantly, Anna let go as Kristoff set her down on her bed.

"Are you sure you're okay?" Kristoff asked. His eyes were filled with worry as he helped prop her leg up on some pillows and Anna wanted to tell him right there that no matter what Elsa said tomorrow, he _had _ to make up an excuse to not go into town. But she could only do that if she told him exactly why he was going to be sent on some errands. And she could only tell him why it was such a bad idea if she admitted that she was in love with him.

Anna bit her lip. "I-just-it's…." she sighed. "Could you sit with me for a while?" she asked. "Please?"

She had never seen Kristoff's face look more conflicted than it did in that moment. "Anna," he said running a hand through his hair. "I-I'm sorry, but I've gotten behind in a lot of work lately and I….I can't. I'm sorry."

"Oh," Anna said, shoulders sagging. "It's fine. You go do whatever you need to do. Sorry I've been such a bother to you."

"You're not a bother," Kristoff insisted and he stepped closer to her and his hand was outstretched like he meant to grab her hand or hug her and Anna just couldn't _take _that right now.

"Just shut the door behind you on your way out," Anna said, her voice sounding rather high and strangled. "And tell someone that I would like some tea."

"I could make you some tea," Kristoff offered weakly.

Anna released a shuddering breath. "I don't _want _you to make me any tea, I want you to _go,_" she said through gritted teeth.

Kristoff opened his mouth, closed it, lifted his hands to wring his hat before he remembered that he didn't have it on him, and flapped his arms awkwardly at his sides. He took a cautious step toward the bed. "Anna-" he began.

With surprising speed, Anna grabbed one of her pillows and threw it at Kristoff, hitting him square in the face. "Go!" she ordered one more time. She turned and hid her face in another one of her pillows, not wanting to see the look on Kristoff's face right now. After many painfully long moments, she heard him sigh and walk over to her bed. Anna tensed, expecting him to grab her hand or pull on her shoulder and plead with her to just talk to him. Instead, he put the pillow she had thrown back on the bed and silently retreated, shutting the door gently behind him.

* * *

_You will quickly find out next chapter that Agnes acts much differently around people of her own station than people who are above her._

_Fic announcement! If you've read my modern AU oneshot "Bjorgman Family Christmas Party" I'm happy to say that I am developing a story based in that universe. Some details have changed a little, but I've got the first chapter nearly done. It will start with a prologue of sorts going into how Kristoff came to work for Elsa and Anna's family that takes place a few years before the oneshot, and then it will be a big Kristanna relationship fic. I just want to do a fic of them going through their relationship, falling in love, fights, kiss, smexy times (implied or not I'm still deciding). I just need to figure out how I will fit in Hans. Keep an eye out for it. I may publish it sooner than you think._


	6. Chapter 6

Girls, Kristoff decided, were probably the most confusing creatures to ever be put on this planet, and their existence was obviously some big cosmic joke. Some higher being was pointing and laughing at all the men on Earth right now. Especially him. He was sure of it. What other explanation could there be to Anna's _weird _behavior? Well…weirder than normal.

Anna's confession on their way back from their failed sleigh ride had been surprising to say the least. Surprising, but not unpleasant. Far from unpleasant, actually. Finally he had confirmation that Anna felt the same way he did. When he was done kicking himself for not doing something when she confessed and getting her sleepy form to her room, he felt ecstatic. He hardly slept that first night, much to Sven's annoyance.

It didn't take long for his excitement to give way to absolute terror. Anna's confession meant…it was _his _turn to do something, wasn't it? He didn't know what the next move should be! He actually ended up practically running away from Elsa and Anna in the courtyard one day when Elsa spotted him and called out to him.

When Christmas Eve finally came, Kristoff practically flew up the mountain with Sven to see his family. If anyone could give him love advice, they could. And he had talked about Anna enough during previous visits for everyone to know that he was in love with her. He talked so much about her, in fact, that Bulda huffed and crossed her arms when Kristoff arrived.

"When are you finally going to bring this girl around?" she demanded the moment he walked into the clearing. "I'm beginning to think she's not even _real._"

"She _is _real!" Kristoff protested, trying and failing to extricate himself from his family. Sven was happily playing tag with some of the kids. "And I actually need some advice." He narrowly avoiding sitting on one of his uncles-but it was sometimes hard to tell when they were rolled up sometimes-before plopping himself down on a log. "What do you do when a girl says that she wants you to kiss her?"

Blink. Blink.

He had never heard his family be so silent.

Blink. Blink.

It was actually getting kind of uncomfortable.

Blink. Blink.

Okay. He took an _extra _long bath and washed his clothes with some of the castle's best soaps. He _knew _he couldn't smell that bad today. That couldn't be the reason they were being so quiet.

Blink. Blink.

"Kristoff," Bulda said slowly. All the other trolls waited with bated breath. "What _exactly _did this girl say?"

"Um," Kristoff mumbles. He rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably. "Well she was kind of half asleep at the time…but um…there was some stuff about mistletoe…and how she thought I would have kissed her back by now since she kind of kissed me on the cheek on her birthday a couple of months ago and I asked if that meant I was allowed to kiss her and she said that I was, but then she fell asleep a few minutes later and that was a couple of weeks ago and I really don't know what to do."

Blink. Blink.

Not this again!

"Kristoff, listen to me," Bulda says, tugging on his collar and forcing Kristoff to lean down at an uncomfortable angle. "When a girl says that she wants you to kiss her, then you _kiss her_."

"But-"

"_No buts!" _his whole family says at once.

Two young trolls look at each other and snort. "Butts," they giggle before rolling away in laughter.

Bulda tugged on his collar again to command his full attention. "Kiss. The. Girl," she said through grit teeth.

With this loving and somewhat threatening advice, Kristoff had returned to the castle the next day, telling himself that the next time he was alone with Anna, he would bring up that conversation on the mountain and if she would still allow it, he'd finally man up and kiss her. But he had a hell of a time trying to find her.

It seemed like every time he went to seek her out, Anna was busy doing some weird princess thing that he didn't understand why it was entirely necessary. If it wasn't for Anna breaking her ankle, Kristoff was sure he would _never _get a chance to be alone with her.

And he was sure that he had been making some sort of progress and one of these days he was going to finally get around to that whole kissing Anna business. Someday soon, before his whole family got on to him for being a chicken.

But now that awful distant cousin of hers was staying at the castle and something happened at that lunch yesterday that made Anna mad at him. Kristoff felt absolutely miserable the next morning when Elsa summoned him to her office.

"What happened at that lunch yesterday?" Kristoff asked, forgetting all formalities. Elsa paused in her writing, pen hovering over a piece of paper.

"What-?" Elsa said, confused.

"Anna was-" _Miserable, distant. _"She didn't seem like herself after lunch yesterday," Kristoff explained. "I'm not a genius or anything, but even I can figure out that if Anna was fine before lunch and not fine after lunch, then something must have happened in the middle. And I think as her older sister you need to find out what it is and fix it," he demanded, pointing a finger at Elsa. She crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at him. "Erm," Kristoff mumbled awkwardly. He dropped his hand and gave a little awkward bow. "Your majesty."

"Elsa," she corrected. She went back to her writing, looking amused. "Whatever problem my sister has," Elsa said, pausing to blow on the ink, "I'm sure it will resolve itself in no time at all." She blew on the ink again. "Although I am glad you are voicing your concern. It's nice to know Anna has someone who cares for her. And not just because she's a princess." Kristoff shuffles awkwardly as Elsa folds up the paper. "I know it's not part of your normal duties, but I'm sending you into town to pick up a few things."

Kristoff doesn't want to go into town. He wants to stay here and sit outside of Anna's bedroom door until her leg heals and she finally has no choice but to leave her room and talk to him.

And he especially doesn't want Elsa to walk with him out to the courtyard and spot some maid of Lady Jeneve's. And he doesn't want Elsa to suggest on his behalf that she go with him into town.

And he most _especially _does not want to hear another complaint from Ada or Airin or whatever her name was.

"Aren't we _supposed _to be making small talk?" Whatever-her-name-is whines.

"_I'm _supposed to be getting things for the castle," Kristoff replies tersely. "If you want to talk, go ahead and do it." He pulls the sleigh to a stop in front of the baker's and hurries into the shop to get away from the annoying girl. "Flour for the castle," Kristoff says to the man behind the counter, flashing him the royal seal on the paper Elsa had given him earlier. The man nods and motions for Kristoff to follow him to the back.

What's-her-face is standing there, arms crossed over her chest, and pouting when he comes out with the first sack of flour slung over his shoulder. "You left me outside."

"Yep," Kristoff says. He walks right past her and out the door, loading the flour into the back of the sleigh.

"In the _cold_," she says as he passes her again.

"Well you didn't like the three other shops we went to today so I thought you wouldn't want to bother coming into this one."

She looks around the bakery distastefully. "Well the shops here aren't anywhere _near _as nice as what we have back home. There it's actually a pleasure doing business for my mistress."

Kristoff rolls his eyes and apologizes quietly to the baker. At least this is the last stop of this hellish day.

Of course, what's-her-face has been making things more difficult for him than they should be. Elsa would have to step in and do some smoothing over for some citizens of Arendelle if she actually wanted to conduct business in her own kingdom again.

And she kept huffing either by the sleigh or on the sleigh every time he got on or off. It vaguely occurred to him that she might want some help but he was in a bad mood and she had two arms and legs. She could do it herself.

"Have you lived in Arendelle your whole life?" What's-her-face asked. He was almost certain her name was Ada. He gripped the reins a little tighter, resisting the urge to send Sven into a gallop so that he could get away from Ada faster.

"Yep," Kristoff drawled, lips popping on the "p."

"And you've been working for the royal family for how long?"

Was this the small talk she wanted? They'd be at the gates soon, anyway. He'd indulge her a little. "Going on five years." Kristoff suddenly pulled the sleigh to a stop and got out to look at the little trinkets being sold at one of the stalls. The couple running it are sickeningly cheerful despite the cold.

"What are you doing _now?" _Ada complains. "You're _done _with everything and I'm _cold_. I want to go back to the _castle._ There's probably nothing _good _here anyway!"

"There's plenty of good things here," Kristoff says shortly. God, would she be _quiet _for a minute and stop insulting everyone and everything in Arendelle? Finally he spotted a small snow globe. Picking it up and examining it carefully, Kristoff almost chuckled at the ice-skating figurines inside. There's a wind up key on the bottom and Kristoff cranks it to listen to the melody.

The nice thing about working for Elsa and Anna is that whenever they did send you out on errands, they gave you a little spending money for yourself. Usually Kristoff would put the money away, but this snow globe wasn't for him and he was more than happy to hand the money over.

"You wasted your money on that?" Ada's looking at the snow globe as if it was a poisonous snake. "What do you need with a snow globe, anyway?"

Kristoff groaned, wishing Ada would just _shut up_. He was starting to miss Lady Jeneve.

"It's not for _me, _it's for Anna." He doesn't even know why he's bothering to explain to her. "She's been feeling down about the broken ankle and I thought I'd cheer her up."

"Why?" Ada asks.

"Why?" Kristoff echoes. "Because she's all cooped up in her room when she could be outside making snow angels. Because she tries to play off the broken ankle like it's nothing but she hates making everyone drop what they're doing because she can't do the simplest of things. Because Anna's my friend and this is the kind of things friends do for each other. You have friends you would do something like this for, don't you, Ada?"

"It's _Agnes!"_ Not-Ada screeches, face reddened with anger. Oops. "And I didn't mean _that. _I meant why are you bothering getting something for Princess Anna? It's not like she's the _important _one. She's nothing special. She's just the spare."

…

It was amazing how she made the decision to climb back into the sleigh and leave her there so easy. Kristoff almost wasn't aware that he had done it until he had driven back through the open gates and let some other stable hands unload the sleigh and put Sven away.

He stalked back into the castle, looking like quite a sight, he was sure. If Elsa did not kick her distant cousin and her entourage across the fjord, then he certainly would.

Kristoff was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that he nearly collided into Gerda carrying a tray of food, but at least it gave him an idea.

"Sorry, Gerda! Sorry. A-are you taking this to Princess Anna?"

"Ye-"

"Great! I'll take it for you and save you the trip." Before Gerda could make an attempt to protest, Kristoff took the tray away from her. He had had a miserable day and he needed to make things up with Anna so he could find out if she still wanted him to kiss her or not.

Kristoff pats his pockets to make sure the snow globe is still safe and sound before knocking lightly on the door. "Come in!" Anna's muffled voice calls. Kristoff hurries in and shuts the door behind him. Anna's bewildered to say the least.

"Kristoff, what-?"

"If your cousin ever comes to visit again, I'm quitting," Kristoff interrupts. If Anna doesn't have the chance to talk, she can't kick him out. Kristoff has never been a talkative man, but he will do whatever it takes to avoid being _out there _and running into Agnes, including running his mouth until the end of the world. He wondered if he should feel bad about leaving her behind, but he dismisses the thought almost immediately. They hadn't been _that _far from the castle.

"I mean it. I will go live in the mountains and be a lumberjack or an ice harvester," Kristoff threatens as he sets up the tray across Anna's lap. "She and everyone who works for her has to be the most arrogant, rude, negative bunch of lousy excuses for human beings I have ever met. And if your sister ever needs another errand in town done she can do it herself because if doing errands in town means I get stuck with Ada…Agnes…Airin…whatever-her-name-is or anyone like her ever again, then she's just going to have to learn to do without. Do you know how many dirty looks I've gotten today because of her running mouth? You want any water?"

Not waiting for an answer, Kristoff goes over to the water pitcher and pours her a glass. Anna looked amused as she took the glass from him. At least she doesn't look like she's inexplicably mad at him anymore.

He can feel Anna's eyes on him as he throws another log into the fireplace before yanking off his gloves and hat.

"There, that should keep you warm," he mutters, tossing the hat and gloves into a nearby chair. He finally looks up at Anna and sees her trying and very nearly failing to hold back her laughter. "What?"

"So…date didn't go well?" Anna asks, sounding just as amused as she looks.

Kristoff blinks at her, confused. "Um, no. That was not a date. That was the job from hell."

Anna shakes her head, laughing. "No. Agnes had a crush on you and wanted an excuse to hang out with you."

"Wait, what?" Kristoff said. Anna laughs harder while Kristoff shakes his head. "No. That was _not _a date. It doesn't count because it was horrible and I had no clue that she liked me. She certainly didn't _act _like it." Kristoff sighs. "Can I hide in here for a while?"

Anna bites her lip. "What about work?" If she's trying to make him feel guilty about yesterday, she's successful. He should have blown off work for just a little bit longer yesterday. He could have managed for Anna.

"I've earned a break," he tells her earnestly. "Trust me."

Anna swells with happiness and a new wave of guilt washes over Kristoff. He should have stayed yesterday. Any guilty feelings within him, however, are soon banished as Anna pats the bed next to her. Grinning, Kristoff takes off his shoes and crawls on to the mattress next to a giggling Anna.

"Jeez, this is nice," Kristoff says shifting and adjusting until he's comfortable. "Mind if I take a nap here?" Both their faces flush furiously red at his statement. "That-that was supposed to be a compliment. I didn't mean for it to sound-you have a nice bed. Nice mattress. For _you _to sleep in. Maybe I should move back over to the fireplace-"

"Kristoff! I get what you mean!" Anna assures him. "And sure, take a nap if you want. You look kind of tired."

He's completely conscious of the fact that his leg is touching her leg, his shoulder touching her shoulder, and Anna hasn't shirked away from the contact yet. "Maybe in a little while," he decides, nudging her shoulder playfully.

Anna silently offers him the bread roll from her plate and he rips a large bite out of it. Whatever she was upset about seems to have passed and they're back to being friends again.

"Oh!" Kristoff says around the bread. He swallows, then takes Anna's water glass from her and takes a sip. "I almost forgot something!"

"Hey!" Anna protests, taking the water glass back from him. "Get your own!" she says, twisting to put it down on the beside table. "What'd you forget?"

Wordlessly, Kristoff reaches into his pocket and pulls out the snow globe, placing it in her waiting hands. "I got it in town today," he says as Anna shakes it. "Thought it'd cheer you up…do you like it?"

"I love it!" Anna squeals. Turning her head, she plants a quick peck on his cheek.

They sat there in silence for a minute after that action, staring at each other with wide eyes and furiously red faces. Anna squirmed and shifted and Kristoff guessed that she was wishing her ankle wasn't broken at that moment.

Kristoff is tempted to pretend like it didn't happen. _Now's not the right time, _he argued with himself. But his family's voices are running around his head calling him a coward.

"I-I think I'm done with lunch," Anna says, nudging the tray. Here's his chance to run. To just forget about this whole terrifying kissing business.

Kristoff grabs the tray and puts it off to the side, immediately taking back his seat next to Anna.

"Remember the sleigh ride?" Kristoff asks in a rush. Maybe he shouldn't have added that log to the fire. It's feeling pretty hot in here.

"Um, yeah?" Anna says. "Pretty unforgettable, right?" she laughs nervously and tucks a stray hair behind her ear.

"Well when we were on our way back on Sven, you were kind of falling asleep and then you…you said something."

Anna squeaks.

"Something about kissing," Kristoff continues, his voice sounding a few octaves higher than normal.

Anna squeaks again.

"Something ab-b-bout me being kind of, you know…_allowed _to kiss you?" Kristoff trails off uncomfortably. "B-because, you know, if that offer was serious and if it still stands, I-I'd like to take you up on it. If I can. May I? We me? I mean, may we? Wait…what?" _Smooth, Kristoff._

"We may," Anna says. He looked down at her, happily astonished and she nods encouragingly. Leaning over, Kristoff presses his lips to hers before he can chicken out and make anymore excuses.

The whole kissing business, it turns out, isn't too hard to figure out.

* * *

_I meant for them to kiss a long time ago. The sleigh ride was supposed to happen in chapter two and they were supposed to kiss then. They were also supposed to kiss in chapter three. Chapter four was also not meant to be as long as it was and they were supposed to kiss then. I thought they were going to kiss in chapter five, too, but the word count ended up being well over 6,000. Now you all know just how long I've _really _been making you wait._


End file.
